Little Fish Cakes

If ever you have some left over fish, be it hake or snoek, or any other fish, make sure you try the following recipe.  It is an easy light meal or can be a lovely pre-dinner snack.  When making snoek fish cakes, make sure you serve them with a little korrelkonfyt  (grape jam) on the side!

500g cooked fish, flaked

1 onion, fine chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes

2 eggs, lightly beaten

salt and pepper

Tabasco sauce, optional

Juice of half a lemon

1 tablespoon chutney

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

oil for frying

Saute the onion in the butter until soft, but not browned; cool.  Lightly mix together the fish, onion, potatoes and eggs and season to taste with salt, pepper, Tabasco, lemon juice and chutney.  Now shape into walnut sized balls or larger fish cakes.  Roll in breadcrumbs to cover.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Heat oil in a small saucepan (+/- 2 cm deep) and fry until golden brown; drain on absorbent paper. 

Hake in Beer Batter

One of my favourite food writers is Maggie Beer.  In Maggie's Table, she gives her mother-in-laws recipe for beer batter.  I am all for healthy grilled fish instead of deep-fried, but seeing that it was weekend and that the batter needs only 3 ingredients, I had to try this.  She mentions that the lightness is due to the resting of the batter for 24 hours, so that's what I did, and it was amazingly crispy and light.

If you are in Cape Town, head down to Fish 4 Africa, the hake is as fresh as it gets and really affordable compared to other stores.

6 fresh hake fillets (if using previously frozen fish, make sure that you dry it well on paper towel)

pure sunflower oil

250g self raising flour

125ml light beer

250ml cold water

Whisk the flour, beer and water together until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

When you are ready to cook, pour the oil into a heavy based frying pan, 2 cm deep, and heat until hot.  Dip the fish fillets into the batter to coat, then gently lower them into the hot oil.  Fry until crisp and golden brown, then turn to cook the other side.  Remove and drain on crumpled paper towel.  Serve with salt, pepper and lemon wedges.

Bluenose

If you are looking for the best shop to buy fish in Cape Town, head down to Fish 4 Africa in Woodstock or Monte Vista.  We recently discovered this gem and at the same time I also discovered a fish I never knew existed, called Bluenose.  The flesh is firm textured, moist and succulent.  It is listed as green on SASSI's list and readily available.

Since my discovery we've had it three times already, I'm really hooked!  So next time you have a braai, try blue nose with this paprika basting sauce, and let me know what you think.

One of the ingredients you will always find in my cupboard, is smoked paprika.  Not readily available in South Africa, so when you find it, buy a few tins. 

You can try this recipe with any firm fleshed fish, e.g Bluenose, Cape Salmon, Kabeljou, Yellow tail or Tuna.  A fish of 2kg will serve 6 people. 

For a braai, it is best to keep the fish whole, skin on and butterflied.  Use warm to hot coals and start grilling the skin side first.  Baste the flesh liberally with basting sauce. Turn once the fish is almost cooked through.  Grill for 10 more minutes, baste again and grill for another 5 minutes.  If making it in the oven, preheat to 200 degrees.  Baste the fish and grill for 30 minutes.  When cooked the flesh will be opaque. 

For the basting sauce - mix together:

50ml olive oil

50g butter, melted

juice and zest of one lemon

30ml grated red onion

3 fresh bay leaves, finely chopped (if you have a bay tree)

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika

salt and freshly ground pepper

Serve with lemon wedges, savoury rice and green salad.

Keep any left over fish for the fish cakes which I will share with you soon.